Battle Royale: The New Struggle
by wolfsheim
Summary: The Battle Royale Act is finally adopted in America. What will happen when 40 students are faced with the task of killing each other? Only time will tell.
1. Prologue

Battle Royale: The New Struggle by: Wolfsheim

3rd fic, 1st non humor

Battle Royale is a Japanese movie that came out in 2000. It is also a wonderful book and, arguably, a better manga. It was created by Koushun Takami. I want to shake his hand, I am addicted to the world he created.

Chapter 1: "Inauguration"

Government Memorandum 012751

Clearance AD-5

To Whom it May Concern:

Due to the success of the Battle Royale Act in Japan, the inaugural American Battle Royale will commence in twelve days time. Further information about Battle Royale No. 1x, including location and participants, will be released at a later date. The official reason given as to why the act is being instituted is that it is in the best interest of the country and national security. Opposition is expected to be fierce, so the military is being allotted authority over the American public during each Battle Royale until opposition is no longer a threat.

The President will shortly be informed of this revelation. If he is unwilling to "play ball," he will be impeached and the Vice President will take the helm. If he opposes, measures are currently being taken to make the entire cabinet seem corrupt. A puppet cabinet is already established in case this scenario comes to be. The Minister of Defense, including other key political figures, are already on board and support the BR Act.

This memo also marks the induction of the Battle Experiment Division, a new military branch comprised of loyal officials and Special Forces soldiers. It is headed by long time loyalist and chief of foreign affairs Hank "Hammer" Madsen. He claims to have corrected the problems that plagued Japanese Battle Program No. 12. Mr. Madsen is confident in the success of this experiment as are all of us here.

This document should only be viewed by those with the highest security clearance. Therefore, the President and his cabinet, Congress, etc, should never lay eyes on this form. Keep it under the highest security.

Good Day,

Councilman #9

-\/-

Ah, so there it is, the prologue to my long awaited (by me) Battle Royale fanfic. I hope you are looking forward to the rest. As always, feedback, positive or negative, is greatly appreciated. 


	2. Listen up Buckos

**Battle Royale: The New Struggle**

by: Wolfsheim

Chapter Two: "Listen up Buckos"

"Hey Mark! Dude, over here!"

_Christ, calm the hell down Bryan._

"Okay, okay. I see you. What?" Mark responded, drowsy still from the unforgiving bus ride.

"Cheer up, man. We're Seniors now, we can do whatever we want!" Bryan shouted enthusiastically, practically dragging Mark through the main entrance to Monroe High School. Mark stifled a yawn as they passed through the metal detectors and retrieved their backpacks from the conveyor belt. The irony was lost on Bryan.

"If we could do whatever we wanted, I'd still be in bed. Or, failing that, pulling up in my nonexistant Takuro Spirit with the sweet sound system," Mark droned. "I wish I could share your verve for the most trivial shit, but-"

"WHOAH! Nine fucking O'Clock dude," Bryan interrupted, suspending Mark's whining indefinitely. Mark turned his head slowly. _Probably something stupid. Lester probably has one of his moronic "clever" shirts caught in his locker-_

Mark lost all semblance of rational thought when he saw the vision twenty yards away. A stunning girl he didn't recognize putting away materials into a locker. He couldn't place her despite Monroe being a relatively small high school. There were girls in the school Mark found attractive, but none that had ever stopped the uninterrupted flow of thoughts like she just had. Auburn hair, not fat but not bulimic either, stylish but not flashy. In a word, perfect.

"She's no Alice or Jade, but I'd def give her a-"

Mark was already walking towards the girl before Bryan could finish his undoubtedly vulgar proclamation. His heart was pounding, a relatively new feeling for someone who considered himself a pretty cool customer. But he had made his mind up.

"Hi," Mark said, trying his hardest to sound remotely collected. The girl turned and looked, more than a little surprised, and seemed to evaluate Mark. "I didn't recognize you. I was just wondering if you were new," Mark choked out. _What a buffoon. Of course she's new, shithead. You sound like Bryan._

"Yeah, my family just moved here a month ago from Pasadena. It's... nice here," the girl said, trailing off.

"C'mon, it's not that bad. It's no sprawling metropolis by any means, but not cringe worthy," Mark replied, relaxing slightly.

"No! It's not that, it's a nice town. Really. It's just... it's not like we moved where we have relatives or friends, we're complete aliens here." The girl had an almost sorrowful look on her face.

_She must have left behind a lot of friends. Maybe even a boyfriend. Come on Mark, say something cool to make her feel welcome. _"Well, in that case, consider me your first-"

"HEY MY NAME'S BRYAN!"

_Goddammit Bryan. God damn it. _

_"WHAT'S YOURS?"_

The girl smiled and laughed. Mark perked up his ears, he had completely forgotten to ask.

"Hi, I'm-"

Mark vision is filled with white light and his ears are humming like after that Blunt Force Trauma show he saw with Bryan a few months ago. The next thing he sees is the sky.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Dreaming._

_A dream? And why would I dream about the first day of school? The semester is over in a week and I'm done. No more high school bullshit. Then I can relax and maybe even go on that trip Me an' Bryan an'-_

Mark's thoughts are quickly dashed by loud feedback.

"IS THIS THING ON? HOW DO YOU WORK THIS GOL'DERN THING? Can they hear me?" a voice shouts. One Mark finds extremely obnoxious. He hated the Texan-to-a-fault type. This thought was immediately followed by several others. Why am I laying down? Why was I asleep? Why am I on grass? Where am I? Where is everyone else?

_Okay, calm down, chief. What's the last thing I remember? I was... at home? No... at school? That's right, some pointless assembly. One of those Jingoistic circlejerks the school seemed to have every few months. But this one was different? How? _

"OKAY, I got it, I got, goddammit I said I had it, Steeeve."

_Redneck. _Mark, incidentally, rubbed his neck. He didn't remember putting on a necklace lately.

"Listen up, Buckos, 'cause I ain't gunna say none of this again. This is yer old pal "Hammer" Hank Madsen here. I'd like to be the first to welcome to the inaguruial, inauggrial, the first ever American Battle Royale. Confused? Just think of it as a kind of game. A game in which 39 of your fellow classmates will be dead within 72 hours." 'The Hammer,' as he called himself, emitted a hearty HAW HAW, and then paused. Likely to give the students of Mr. Anderson's Senior Homeroom, Monroe High School a chance to process what had just been said.

_Classmates? Dead? Inauggrial? What the fuck is going on here? _

"And when I say your 39 classmates will be dead, I mean you will be killing them. That's right, only one of you buckos is going to live long enough to graduate high school, and you will accomplish that by graduating this game. It's simple really: kill in order to live. That's the way life works anyway, so take some responsibility for your life by ending others.

_He has to be reading from a script. No way this moron is winging this. Smile, you're on Candid Cocksucker._

"Now for some sightseeing announcements. If you'll direct your attention to your neck, you'll find an N-16 explosive collar. It is waterproof and tamperproof, so please do not try to remove it or you'll prematurely exit this game. And I have money on one of you, so don't take any chances dammit!"

_So that's what it is. Is this for real? To what end would I be collared like a dog and forced to murder friends and acquaintances? _

"To your left, you'll find a bag containing your personal effects and some other important supplies: water, rations, a map, and a few other goodies. If everyone will pull out their map, I'll give you sprouts a crash course on forbidden zones. Aww, what the hell, I'll even give you a hint. Use the legend on the map and local landmarks to determine where you are on the map. So say you're in grid F-3. If that grid is designated a forbidden zone by one of my announcements... BOOM! Haha, that's right, your explosive collar will serve it's function. Therefore, be sure to listen for my announcements, which occur every six hours or your head could go pop."

Mark quickly jerked his hands away from the collar. Picking up the duffel bag, he finally stood and walked over to a picnic table. As he sat it down, he noticed another duffel bag a few feet from the first.

"To your right, you'll find another bag. This is the important one, buckos. This is the one that contains yer randomly assigned weapon. Whether you get a rocket launcher or a bottle rocket, try your best. That's all we ask of you. It's not whether lose win or lose, but how you play the game. Remember that. Some words of wisdom from Uncle Hank. Take revenge on that bully, put down that rich snob, or, heh, show that special girl how you really feel about her. Just make sure of two things. One, there must be at least one kill per announcement, so make sure SOMEONE dies every six hours. Two, if there is more than one contestant alive at the end of the third day, every remaining survivor dies, so refusin' to play is out of the question. Otherwise, there are no rules, so play hard and, of course, have fun, Buckos. I might even share one of my Cohibas with the winner. Hahahaha, those little shits, once you got 'em pissin' down their leg they-"

Mark was pretty sure that last part was unintentional. _Not surprising. Dumbass can't even operate an intercom. _As he surveyed his surroundings, Mark eyes eventually came back to the other duffel. The one that supposedly contained a weapon. He walked towards it hesitantly.

_No way. No way is there a weapon in there. I'm going to walk over there, open it, and get blasted with confetti or something stupid. Then everyone in class will walk out and share a good laugh over how uneasy I was. They could've picked someone better though. Someone like Lelly or Myron would be sobbing right now. Much better TV. Not someone chill like me. Oh well, might as well get this foolish charade over with. _

Mark unzipped the bag and examined the contents.

The only charade that was over was the one Mark had created in his mind.


	3. Love Quadrangle

**Battle Royale: The New Struggle**

by: Wolfsheim

Chapter Three: "Love Quadrangle"

The Monroe Flying Cougars. Two Division-Two football championships in the past three years, due in large part to star quarterback, Jake Fuller. He had several Division-One colleges scouting him, a rare feat for someone from Monroe. Just as important, he frequently got to see his girlfriend at practice since she was on the cheerleading squad. _As far as lives go, not to shabby _Jake thought, immediately after hitting the tight end in double coverage.

The cheerleading squad was presently taking a break, and Alice took the opportunity to sip some water while sitting on the bleachers. _'Slug some water' as Jake would say. But girls don't slug, they sip. _Alice's eyes were on her lap, examining her cheerleading skirt. _If you had told me a couple of years ago I'd be on-_

Her thought was cut short by a loud clatter on the bleachers. She looked up to find Mark jogging up the bleachers and stood to greet him.

"Hey! What's up, stranger?" Mark joked. Mark and Alice had been good friends since middle school. They hadn't seen each other as frequently as they would have liked since Alice joined the cheerleading team sophomore year. Incidentally, Mark had joined the baseball team the same year.

"Same ol', you know how it goes. Are you coming from practice?" Alice brushed the hair from her forehead. She absentmindedly wondered if Bryan had made the team yet or if he was still snagging errant balls as the de facto ball boy.

"Yeah, we just wrapped. I thought you guys were practicing today so I figured I'd drop by and return this," Mark explained, pulling a book from his backpack. _The Heretic Diaries, _Alice's favorite book.

Alice took the book and placed it in her backpack, meticulously making sure it remained undamaged. "Did you like it?"

"Yeah, I thought it was really cool. I did think the ending was kind of jumbled though."

Alice smiled. "Don't worry, I had to read it a few times before I really got it." Alice turned to see where Jake's eyes were at the moment, then quickly turned back.

"Well then, maybe we can grab something at Planet Burger some day and you can explain it to me, because I was thoroughly baffled."

"Yeah! That... that'd be great. We haven't done anything like that in a long time," Alice exhaled, once again brushing her jet black hair back from her forehead with her hand. Her hair was one of the things that initially drew Mark to her.

Jake looked on, showing a remarkable amount of restraint, at least for him, and resisted walking over to the bleachers and having an... encounter with the bastard harassing his honey. The words ricocheted in Jake's brain like mental bullets: _Destroy. Annihilate. Eradicate. Wreck. Vaporize. Nuke. End. _This unhealthy train of thought finally ended when Mark waved, turned, and jogged away from Alice.

Alice sat back down, the lingering smile slowly fading. Before she even had a chance to gather her thoughts, she heard another voice.

"Wow. You really like him, don't ya?" the guy said, confidently. Alice turned to see who had the gall to issue such a blatantly rude statement. It was Jack Culver, that new kid who reputedly was kicked out of his last school for gang fighting. Amongst other things. _People love to talk though. I wonder how much of it is true? _He was sitting roughly ten yards away.

"What makes you say that, Lord Byron?" Alice quipped casually, looking back at the football practice. At least she hoped casually. She sipped some more water. Jack stood and walked towards Alice, eventually sitting adjacent to her. From there he leaned so that his mouth was inches from her ear. Alice stirred slightly, startled by his brashness.

"It doesn't take a genius, sweetheart. The only difference is a lesser man would've resorted to the abhorrent 'get a room' response," Jack responded coolly. Alice snickered but this response was not sufficient in itself. Meanwhile, Jack extended a pack of cigarettes with one poking out and offered it towards Alice. She considered it briefly but quickly waved it off. _God, if Jake caught me doing that..._

"How exactly was it obvious? -- assuming I really do like him?" Alice quickly added. Jack stifled a grin at that.

"Of course. I was just referring to your numerous tells during that adorable exchange," Jack vaguely retorted.

Alice was beginning to get a little annoyed at this boy. _He's cocky, attractive guys usually are. Cocky, but in a different way than Jake. No. Not cocky. Confident. Wait? Did I just refer to him as attractive? _

"Well, don't leave me in suspense, Mr. James Dean wannabe. What might these tells be?" Alice chided. Jack let out a boisterous laugh at this. Alice found it to be a pleasant laugh and brushed the hair off her forehead.

"I always liked Steve McQueen more, but I'll humor you all the same. Where to begin?" Jack sighed. "Okay, first of all, when he approached you immediately stood. You didn't even have time to think about a response. You just acted. You couldn't wait to greet him, eye to eye."

Alice scoffed. "That all? That's nothing."

"Okay, something better. You looked back at Jake a couple of times while you were talking. You two are a couple, aren't you? Why would you check to see if Jake was looking unless you felt guilty about talking to Mark?"

_My God, he's right. I did look back at least once. It must've been subconscious. Still, that's quite a leap._

"I would call that something of a leap, wouldn't you?" Alice rebounded.

"If you say so. But I'm not done yet. When he returned that book to you, you were super careful when you put it away. Not to mention it didn't have a mark on it. You said you had read it several times so not only have you had it for a while but you also must like it a lot. Hell, might even be your favorite book. If it meant that much to you, why would you let a 'casual acquaintance' borrow it? He could've bought it himself, he could've checked it out at the library but no, you let him borrow your cherished personal copy." Jack considered a cigarette but thought better of it.

_Who the fuck is this guy? How can he read me this well after having known me for roughly ten minutes? He's totally right about the book thing and doesn't even realize it's a rare First Edition! And signed by the author! Either his attention to detail is ridiculously well refined or he's some kind of sick stalker. And in my experience, the latter is much more likely. _

"I'm surprised you have time to go to classes since you seem to spend all of it stalking me."

Again, Jack emitted that boisterous laugh. "One more, if I may. You repeatedly brushed your hair back while talking to Mark, a common nervous tick among girls. Now why would you be nervous while talking to someone you've known a 'long time?' You did it during our conversation too... I guess you have a thing for guys with monosyllabic names," Jack said, concluding his amazingly astute observations.

_Now that he mentions it, I only do that when talking to Jake or Mark. And him, apparently. Oh God, him too? _

"It's okay, your secret is safe with me. And don't worry, it wasn't that obvious, I'm just what you might call an 'intelligent observer." Jack stood and patted the breast pocket of his shirt. "Heh, took a cigarette break and forgot to smoke."

Jack began to walk down the bleachers and, after some hesitation, Alice followed.

"Hey, it was nice to meet you. Breaks are rarely that... informative." At this, Jack closed the distance and put a hand on Alice's shoulder.

"The pleasure was all mine. Thanks for putting up with me; I know it can't have been that easy."

Meanwhile, on the football field, the last straw had broken the camel's back. _I can put up with one loser bothering my girl during practice, but two? That's it. _Without giving it any additional thought, Jake, quarterback extraordinaire, launched a rocket of a spiral at Jack's head. Under normal circumstances, the throw would've easily met its mark. Just ask the scouts. But these were hardly normal circumstances. He looked on in horror as the pass began to break to the right towards Alice.

Fortunately, Jack was turning to leave as the ball was in flight. He spotted it mere seconds away from hitting Alice. Without thinking, he stepped in front of Alice and covered her up as much as he could. The ball slammed into Jack's right shoulder, and landed several yards away. Alice was left unscathed, except for her water bottle spiraling out of her hands. Much of the contents were spilled on her.

"Here, I'll get that," Jack offered, wiping as much of the water off of Alice as possible with a nearby towel. "There... good as new."

Before he knew it, Jack was shoved away from Alice. It was Jake, and he had a bone to pick.

"Hey! Hey asshole, what're you doin' with my woman? What the fuck are you thinkin'?" Jake demanded.

"You can't even rez what I'm thinking, pal."

Jake was confused by this response but didn't let it deter him.

"Don't you know who the fuck I am?" Jake scoffed.

"The guy who almost brained his girlfriend with a missile?" Jack answered sarcastically.

Jake had heard enough. He swung at Jack with a right hook to the chin. Although Jack anticipated the punch, he took it all the same, but was sure to turn with the punch to reduce the damage.

"Ah. You just made my day." Jack lunged at Jake, quickly sweeping him to the ground and throwing wild punches. Jake answered in kind, but neither boy was truly able to gain a dominant position. Most observers would tell you it was a pretty even brawl.

Before long, Coach Armstrong was prying off Jack while Alice was trying to restrain Jake.

"Break it up, you two!" the coach demanded.

"He hit me first," Jack pointed out.

The coach either didn't hear this or chose to ignore it. "Jake, you get back to practice right now. Jack, I better see you in detention tomorrow."

"But that-" Alice began, but chose to keep quiet instead. She wanted to say it wasn't fair that Jack got detention and Jake didn't, but decided not to get Jake into trouble too.

Jake decided to tack on a stern warning to solidify his point. "You better hope I don't see you around her again, or you'll get it even worse."

"Any time, princess," was Jack's response, and he walked away.


End file.
